No. 2229

Cases with Fat Livers—Small

Petites Caisses de Foies-Gras

Cut into small escalops half of a large cooked fat liver; put it into a small sautoir with an equal bulk of escalops of cooked truffles cut the same size as the livers; moisten these with a little good, thick sauce reduced with Madeira; let simmer without boiling for seven or eight minutes, then take it off and leave to cool partly. With this stew fill eight or ten china cases, cover the tops quickly with a thick layer of chicken forcemeat (No. 89), smooth nicely, and then range the cases on a small baking sheet. Poach the forcemeat in a slack oven, warming the stew at the same time, and finally cover the surface of the forcemeat with a little cold Madeira sauce (No. 492) applied with a brush; return to the oven for two minutes to gloss the sauce, and then dress the cases pyramidically on a folded napkin.

← No. 2228 Cases of English Snipe a la Careme Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2230 Cases of Larks or Snow Birds →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's savoury built in three layers: a foie gras and truffle ragout, a cap of chicken forcemeat poached over it, and a glaze of Madeira sauce. Nothing here is difficult, but the temperatures are the whole game.

Never let the liver boilThe hinge of the dish. Foie gras allowed to boil renders out and goes grainy and greasy; the instruction to "let simmer without boiling for seven or eight minutes" means the barest movement in the pan, no more. Pull the pan the moment the fat starts to weep.
A slack ovenRanhofer's term for a low oven; the book gives no figure, but it is conventionally read as somewhere in the region of 275-325F. It is deliberately low so the forcemeat sets gently without souffléing, cracking, or driving the liver fat out of the stew beneath. The cap is poached, not baked.
Doneness of the forcemeatChicken forcemeat (No. 89) is a raw pounded-poultry preparation and must be cooked through. Timing depends on the depth of the layer and the heat of your oven; check the centre of the thickest case reaches 165F before you glaze.
China casesSmall individual porcelain or earthenware ramekins. Ranhofer elsewhere uses paper cases for the same purpose; anything small and ovenproof works.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow saucepan. Use the smallest one that will hold the escalops in a single layer, so the little Madeira sauce actually coats them.
"A large cooked fat liver"Half of a large cooked liver, plus an equal bulk of truffle, is what fills the eight to ten small cases. A cooked terrine or torchon of foie gras, well chilled and cut into thin escalops, is the practical modern substitute; it will slice cleanly straight from the refrigerator.
TrufflesThe recipe assumes cooked black truffle in quantity equal to the liver, which is now a very expensive proposition. Preserved black winter truffle, drained and sliced to match the liver, is the closest thing; the truffle juice from the tin belongs in the Madeira sauce.
The two saucesThe stew is bound with a thick reduced sauce (an espagnole or demi-glace reduced with Madeira), and the glaze is Ranhofer's No. 492 Madeira sauce, brushed on cold so it does not run. The two minutes back in the oven is only to gloss it — pull the cases before the sauce dulls.
Yield and servingEight to ten cases, one per person as an entrée within a long menu. Serving them stacked on a folded napkin is period presentation; a warmed platter is more practical and keeps them upright.
LegalityFoie gras production and sale is restricted or banned in a number of jurisdictions. Check locally before shopping.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous compendium of the food he served over three decades as chef of Delmonico's in New York. The caisse — a small case of porcelain, silver or oiled paper holding a rich individual portion — was a workhorse of nineteenth-century service, letting the kitchen send out something hot, composed and identical to every seat at a long table; Ranhofer gives a run of them here, filled with snipe, larks, and this foie gras. The pairing of fattened liver with black truffle and Madeira was already fixed convention by then, inherited from Carême and the early Paris restaurants, and Strasbourg and Périgord foie gras were among the luxury imports that made an American grand-restaurant menu legible as French. The cap of chicken forcemeat is characteristic of the period's taste for a dish that arrives sealed and smooth, giving nothing away until the spoon goes in.